The present invention relates in general to electrical control circuitry, and more specifically to the control circuitry of a combination washer and dryer of the domestic type adapted to operate from a 120 volt, 15 or 20 ampere residential power line.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,824,813, owned by the assignee of the present invention and incorporated herein in its entirety by reference, is directed to the control circuitry of a combination washer and dryer which includes a motor driven clothes washer, a motor driven tumbler type clothes dryer, and an electrical resistance heater for supplying heated air to the clothes tumbling drum of the dryer. This prior art control circuit includes a lockout relay which disconnects the electrical resistance heater from the power line when the motor drive of the washer is operating.
Such a feature precludes the simultaneous operation of the washer motor, dryer motor, and resistance heater which, if operated together at their full electrical power levels, would exceed the power providing capability of the 120 volt, 15 or 20 ampere residential power line. Thus, when both the washer and dryer motors are operating, only non-heated ambient or room air is provided to the dryer drum. While clothes tumbling in the dryer drum will eventually dry, the time for such room air drying can be excessive.
It is a goal of the present invention to provide means for accomplishing, relative to the aforementioned prior art, accelerated drying of clothes when both the washer and dryer motors are operating.
It is a further goal of the present invention to provide such drying in a simple, reliable, and inexpensive manner.